“Did you have trouble finding the
place? I told Gabriel to give you directions.” Alicia was sitting primly at a long table,
with four girls sitting at either side. “We ordered a mimosa for you.”

“Thanks.” I took a deep breath,
flustered by the jog. “Sorry, I had to jump a few buses to get here.”

The girl to Alicia’s left wrinkled
her nose. “You’re a bus person?”

I nodded. “No need to pay for gas
when there is only parking for one-third of the cars in the city.”

Alicia’s green eyes sparkled. I
swear she could do it on command, and I hated that about her. “I know. I’m
always after Gabe about how much it costs to run our car.”

I swallowed the urge to point out
that the car she was referring to was Gabe’s car. Not hers. He and I bickered
over the fact that he bought a gas guzzling all-terrain vehicle after receiving
his last raise, instead of the economically earth-friendly smart car I was
pushing him toward.

“I would be way too nervous to ride
the bus everywhere.” She giggled, flipping her red hair back. She looked great,
as usual, and it made me want to bang my head on the tabletop. “You’re much
braver than I am, Violet.”

I cleared my throat. “Well,
sometimes the bums smell bad, but they tell a hell of a good story, too.”

“Girls, this is Violet Murphy,” Alicia
explained. “She is going to be Gabriel’s best man. Violet, let me introduce you
to my bridesmaids.”

I looked around the table at the
four girls surrounding Alicia. It was like an ad for the United Colors of
Benetton. All four pairs of eyes reeled to my face at once, and I immediately
sensed scrutiny. My hair, my face, and my outfit were immediately assessed, as
Alicia rattled off each of their names.

To her left there was a thin Asian girl, Rose, who I was
sure I’d seen in an ad in Seattle Metro Magazine
before; and a blonde, Kate, whose teeth were capped into a row of white
bathroom tiles. To her right, there was an African American woman, Shawn, whose
long, braided hair shone like a licorice rope down her back. Next to her was
her cousin, Marissa, who was equally as beautiful as Alicia, which was
incredibly annoying. Last but not least, there was a brunette, Kate, who glared
at me while fingering a BlackBerry. Each one of the girls was at least three
sizes smaller than I, and though in any other situation I would have been proud
of my curves, in this group I wanted to hunch over to hide my breasts and
tugging at my shirt to disguise my tummy.

I waved at them, my jewelry clunking
together. After slipping my bracelets off underneath the table, I dropped them
into my purse, and unfolded my napkin onto my lap. “Thank you so much for
inviting me. I’ve never eaten here.”

Alicia sipped her mimosa. “Gabriel
and I come here often. It’s one of our favorites.”

I looked around at the other women.
“Wow, with these girls as your bridesmaids, and you for a bride, your wedding
party will be stunning.”

“Well, I have to look at these pictures for the rest of my
life,” Alicia joked, patting Marissa on the hand sweetly.

Rose snickered under her breath. “Hope the best man doesn’t
plan on wearing that hat.”

I glared at her. “So…how do each of you know the bride?”

Kate spoke first. “I’m her agent. I
work for Puget Model Management. So I’ve known her since she signed on with
us...oh, how long ago was that?”

Alicia’s hand went to her chest sentimentally, and I
waited for her to say a number of years. “Eight months.”

My eyes bounced between the two of
them, who were obviously sharing a tender moment. Did she just say months? Confused, I moved on to Rose,
who offered me what could only be described as a grimace intended to be a
smile. “I’ve been her roommate for a year now.”

“We did our first nudes together.”
Shawn grinned. “That was two years ago. I hadn’t heard from her in a year, but
here I am.”

My eyes bugged out of my head.
“Nudes?”

Alicia waved a hand, dismissing me.
“They were for an avant garde
pictorial. There’s no porn in my background, I promise.”

"Apparently you and Gabe have been friends since
you were, like, ten, right?” Marissa folded her deeply tanned arms. Who in Seattle, in the middle
of February, was tan? Really?

“Six.” I bit the inside of my cheek.

“You
two are, like, best friends, right?” She eyed my hat with disdain.

I tugged at the collar of my shirt.
“Is it hot in here? Um, yes. Nobody knows me like Gabe does.” As soon as I said
it, I cringed. Talk about opening myself up for scrutiny.

“Right.” She flared her nostrils.
“So anyway, you guys apparently know each other inside and out?”

I shifted in my seat and laughed nervously. “Listen, I
know Gabe really well, but not to the extent that he and Alicia know each
other. I mean, some things just come with being in an actual relationship, you
know?”

“Yes.” I gulped. They should hang a
single light bulb over my head and slap me every time I answer.

“What’s his favorite color?” Marissa snapped.

“Gray,” I answered without thinking.

Kate nudged Shawn with her elbow. “What’s
his shoe size?”

“Eleven and a half.”

Shawn tilted her head at me
curiously. “What’s his favorite food?”

“What’s his biggest pet peeve?”
Marissa polished off her mimosa.

Rose sneered. “What brand of
toothpaste does he use?”

I noticed that Alicia’s eyes were
round and the corners of her mouth were downturned, and felt sorry for her,
despite myself. It had to be embarrassing to be shown up by your fiancé’s
female best friend. “His mother’s homemade lasagna, he hates it when people
snap their gum, and he uses Crest.”

All five women at the table stared
at me in silence.

“Anyway...”

“But, wait.” Rose the roommate
pointed her finger at my face. “Didn’t you and Gabe date at one time?”

My stomach turned. Alicia knew about
Gabe and I dating? Well, of course
she knew about Gabe and I were more than
friends for a brief time. They were engaged, for pete’s sake. I wondered
how much detail he’d shared with her. Did he tell Alicia how much I’d loved
him, and how much it destroyed me when it ended? Did he share with Alicia how
awful those months afterward were?

I could feel the weight of all their
eyes on my face. “I...I don’t know if I would call it dating.”

Marissa tapped a fingernail on her
glass. “Well, what was it, then? If
it was significant enough for Gabe to sit Alicia down and explain it all to
her?”

I began weaving together tapestries
of curse words in my mind, inventing colorful ways of inviting Alicia and all
of her bridesmaids all to go to hell. I wanted to tell Alicia that she didn’t
deserve Gabe, or the rest of the Parker family, for that matter. Heat rose from
the collar of my shirt like a teapot, warming my face. Just as I was toying
with the idea of flipping the table over and screaming like Tarzan, someone
else wormed his way into my thoughts.

Gabe.

Whether or not I liked it, Gabe
loved Alicia Von Longorial. He made his choice, and if I loved him, or ever had, I would make it work between Alicia
and me, no matter what it took. I didn’t like her. Not even a little bit. But
Gabe loved her, and I loved Gabe. That had to be enough for me. Even if it
meant going against my natural instinct to cuss like a trucker and possibly
pull some hair extensions out of their perfectly coiffed heads. And if they
didn’t think I knew those were extensions, they were kidding themselves…

My eyes locked with Alicia’s. “Gabe
probably wanted to make sure you knew everything about his past with me, right
from the get-go. He didn’t want you to think that he and I were trying to keep
something from you. Because there was never anything...” I paused and gulped.
“...real between us.”